Hello. I am looking to acquire a replacement SM-3P Plug with USB connector for a drone i brought online.
Hi Tristan,
From the looks of things, your original charger cable may have had some smarts in it. The third pin on LiPo batteries is usually used for a thermistor in the cell that reports back to any charging circuitry the temperature of the cell, and therefore whether the charging needs to be backed off.
I’d take the plastic cover off the drone and check what that connector is hooked up to. That’ll give you some hints into how you’d connect everything if you were to make your own replacement cable.
Keen to get to the bottom of this one!
Hi Tristan,
What exactly are you trying to replace? When you say USB connector, do you mean a USB-powered battery charger? Have you lost the charger and you’re looking for a new one, or do you still have the old one?
A lot of these cheap drones have very similar (or identical) electronics inside, so there’s a fair chance you could find an OEM replacement charger online quite cheaply - it’s probably a common design across a few different drones this company sells at a guess (or several different companies).
It’s not something we sell, but those cheap USB battery chargers are readily available from 3rd party seller sites like eBay and Amazon. Alternatively, you may be able to remove the battery and charge it externally.
Alternatively, if you’re able to do a bit of reverse engineering to specify a new charger, there’s a good chance the pins on the drone are connected directly to the battery. Like James said, they are probably Ground, Positive, and an NTC. You should be able to check them with a multimeter.